


Happy Birthday to Me

by EstelweNadia



Category: Uta no Prince-sama
Genre: Birthday, Childhood Memories, Gen, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Bad At Titles, Not Beta Read, Sweet, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-28 02:41:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17779034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EstelweNadia/pseuds/EstelweNadia
Summary: (A birthday fic for Ren. Happy birthday, Ren ^^)And then he got it. That lonely year he celebrated his birthday with a stranger who appeared in his house and made his day memorable… The stranger was him all along!





	Happy Birthday to Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [qingjingpeak](https://archiveofourown.org/users/qingjingpeak/gifts).



Ren opened his eyes, blinking against the rays of sunlight falling across his face.

_This is…_

His bedroom at his house, but what was strange was that he knew he had fallen asleep on his bed in his dorm room stared with Hijirikawa.

Ren sat up, rubbing his eyes. It had been a dream, right, but why did it feel so real?

And most importantly, why his room was exactly like the room he had when he was twelve? Had George remodel it again without his knowledge? But he wouldn’t do that…

There was only one way to find out.

Ren padded out his bedroom and down the stairs.

Everything looked exactly like it was decades ago. Ren felt a strange feeling of déjà vu encompassing his head thoughts.

“It is just you and me today, Kuma-kun,” Ren heard a familiar voice hitching with a muffled sob. “Just you and me tonight, on my birthday.”

Kuma-kun was a huge teddy bear with orange paw pads gifted to him by his brother when he was ten.

He remembered on that day, he had been crying into his teddy bear in front of the fireplace. He was alone. The huge manor had been terrifyingly empty.

“Papa and everyone else are especially busy today,” the young voice rambled on, “It’s okay. They have more important things to do than to have anything to do with me…”

Not caring anymore if it was a dream or part of his memory, or maybe he was unknowingly whisked far back through time, Ren made a decision.

“You are wrong, Ren-chan,” Ren stepped into the room, smiling in faint amusement when his younger version clutched his teddy bear tighter in alarm.

“Who… are you?” Ren-chan stammered, “How did you get into the house? And why do you look so much like Mama?”

Hmm. Did he really. Ren contemplated his answer for awhile, before finally saying, “Your father arranged for me to come over to celebrate your birthday with you, Ren-chan.”

On that day, Ren remembered feeling slightly better, and hopeful once again that maybe Papa didn’t completely not love him, that his family didn’t completely forget his birthday.

And just like that, Ren-chan’s misery faded away. His eyes shone with sheer happiness, and he smiled with a brightness that seemed to illuminate the entire room.

“Really?!” Ren-chan leaped to his feet, “Then what should we do today, Nii-san? How do you plan to celebrate my birthday today?”

Ren smiled warmly at his younger self. Ruffling the boy’s hair, he said, “A birthday is not a birthday without a birthday cake. How about we bake your birthday cake together?”

“Yes, yes, yes!” Ren-chan bobbed his head up and down in excitement. “I’m sure George has everything in the kitchen! Come, this way!”

Amused, Ren sauntered to follow Little Ren to the kitchen he knew very well.

“What kind of birthday cake do you want, Ren-chan?” Ren asked, even though he knew the answer.

“Chocolate cake!” Ren-chan answered happily, and Ren grimaced.

Back then he hadn’t disliked chocolates yet. But perhaps he could compromise.

By the time they were done, Ren-chan was dusted with flour and the kitchen was in a mess, but he was beaming with pride.

He watched Ren remove the cake from the oven, eyes huge with excitement.

Ren chuckled at the expression on his younger self’s features. He set the cake to cool down on the kitchen counter. “Go take a bath, Ren-chan. I will clean up the kitchen.”

“But!” Despairingly Ren-chan looked at the kitchen. The mess was part of his fault. He had accidentally initiated a food fight, and his friend had gamely retaliated, resulting in a disaster in the kitchen, but it was the most fun he had ever had.

“Don’t worry about it,” Ren made a shooing motion with his hand. “The cake needs to cool anyway. Go ahead and take a bath. Then, go down to the courtyard and wait for me.”

Ren-chan rushed to oblige. As soon as he disappeared out from the room, Ren immediately set about cleaning up the kitchen, humming songs from memory.

Papa would not be too happy to reach home just to discover a dirty kitchen, and Ren didn’t want Ren-chan to get into trouble.

By the time Ren finished cleaning up, Ren-chan was already waiting at the courtyard. He was sitting on the bench near the water fountain, swinging his leg anxiously.

Ren planted the candles on the cake and lit them up. Praying that the air was still with no wind, Ren carefully brought out the cake and headed towards the young child, singing the birthday song as he did so.

_“Happy birthday to you_

_H_ _appy birthday to you_

_Happy birthday my dear Ren_

_Happy birthday to you…”_

Little Ren cupped his hands together and made a silent wish. ( _I don’t want to have lonely birthdays anymore. Please have my father and brothers celebrate my birthday with me next year, with his kind Niisan too!_ ) Then he gently blew out the candles, grinning and flushed with delight.

“Wait!” Ren said, just as his younger self was about to cut the cake. Ren-chan paused, glancing up at him with confusion.

Ren took out George’s saxophone from its case. A furtive glance revealed that his younger self was openly gaping at him.

Ren smirked at the boy. “Now, I want you to sing for me. Ready?”

He played the tune of the birthday song on the saxophone, and beside him, he could hear his younger self singing in tune with the melody.

Not bad if he said so himself.

“Amazing!” Ren-chan breathed. “I want to learn how to play the saxophone too!”

Chuckling, Ren placed the saxophone back into its case. “You can ask George to teach you, Ren-chan. I’m sure that he would be more than happy to.”

“I will, even he gets back!” Ren-chan declared. Then he picked up a knife so he cut the cake, “Let’s eat our cake now!”

Ren watched his younger self bite into the cake. Watched in amusement as his face morphed into something complicated. Watched as he became thoughtful afterwards.

“How is it, Ren-chan?” Ren asked, “Do you like the cake?”

“It’s soft and sweet and thick and chocolatey,” Ren-chan frowned, “But it is also spicy… But it tastes really yummy!”

“I’m glad you like it,” Ren ate a spoonful of the cake. “It’s called spiced chocolate lava cake.”

“I like it!” Ren-chan repeated. “May I have the recipe, Niisan, so I can bake it myself when I’m older?”

"I will leave the recipe on your bedside table," Ren ruffled the boy's hair. "Come now, let's get to bed before your father reaches home. It's already late."

Ren tucked his younger version in the bed - the same bed he woke up in earlier.

As soon as the boy's eyes slipped close, Ren's world darkened.

* * *

Ren opened his eyes, blinking against the rays of sunlight falling across his face.

_This is…_

He was back in his dorm room shared with Hijirikawa.

_Was just now a dream… Or a memory?_

Feeling his head starting to hurt, Ren rested his head on his palm.

Oh well. He didn’t want to think about it now. Sighing, Ren threw his covers aside and padded into the bathroom. STARISH agreed to have breakfast this morning and from the looks of it he was going to be late. Ichi would frown disapprovingly at him, Hijirikawa would scowl and Ochibi-chan would nag.

What a lively morning.

* * *

 

As he entered the cafeteria, there was a loud pop and a thundering yell:

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY, REN!!!!”

Ren blinked at the sudden appearance of ribbons and confetti raining in his vision, and then a very familiar cake was shoved in front of him.

He made a silent wish  _(I wish for Ichi to pick up the damn hints already and reciprocate my feelings for him._ ) Then, with a light breath, he extinguished the candles and was rewarded with enthusiastic clapping and cheering.

“Is this… spicy chocolate lava cake?” Ren was astounded.

“Yes,” Surprising Ichi was the one who admitted. “You dislike chocolate, but today is also Valentine’s day so we decided to compromise.”

It was barely hours ago he had thought of the same thing! Déjà vu again?

“I apologise if I seem to intrude your privacy, but I found this while tidying your study last week,” Hijirikawa showed him a familiar piece of paper with familiar handwriting.

Ren took the paper with shaking hand.

It was the recipe he had written for Ren-chan!

And then he got it. That lonely year he celebrated his birthday with a stranger who appeared in his house and made his day a memorable day… The stranger was him all along!

What an incredible twist of fate.

“Happy birthday to me.”


End file.
